Horse with a cough - advice please

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Jingleballs

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On Friday evening I noticed Casper had a cough - he coughed twice, cleared his nose and was fine. I lunged him and he didn't cough again.

On Saturday he didn't cough at all when I was at the yard but it was snowing so I wasn't there long and he wasn't exercised.

Sunday I rode and he coughed a couple of times when being ridden then cleared his nose and was fine.

He has now coughed at least twice every day since Friday - incidently I now also have a cough - a dry nasty one that's given me a sore throat.

I've started wetting his hay although it's not dusty and is in fact really good hay. He's on shavings but always has been so I don't think it's that. His feed has changed recently but he gets a pretty mushy feed - chaff with fast fibre.

I spoke to one of the liveries as it's not something I have experience of and she advised that occassionally her horse gets a wee cough when the seasons change etc and advised to give him human cough medicine for a couple of days so he got some benelyn yesterday - although he still coughed today so I gave him more tonight and he'll get more tomorrow.

I've now read somewhere that it's a very bad idea to exercise a horse with a cough as it can damage lungs - and here I was thinking it was helping to clear it!

Obviously if it doesn't clear soon he'll get the vet out - but in terms of other symptoms there are none - he's energetic and bright in himself.

So a couple of questions - what can cause a cough in a horse? What else can I do to help him? I'm only dampening the hay now so may start soaking it overnight too.

Also, how long before I get the vet out if we assume there are no other symptoms?

Sorry for the possibly obvious questions but I've never had this issue before.
 
I'm having the same problem with both of my Connies at the moment. Pecan has been coughing for almost 2 weeks off and on - some days he won't cough at all and others he'll have a few in a string. And the other one had a wee splutter today too - ugh!

I keep joking that it's because they like the taste of Benylin in their feeds haha! :p Think it's vet time for an antibiotic though! Keeping an eye on here too! :)
 
my conny had this last year i am sure it was someting viral she had picked up at a show i gave her a week off (middle of our show season) started her on a pro biotic to boost her system and brought clear breather equimins stuff from the local shop it was gone come the following sat so was good to go to the show. i always find give them a good few days rest and a boost to help shift the cough!
 
Could be a virus in which case you just have to wait until his own body has dealt with it. I wouldn't ride him while he's coughing because he probably feels as low as you'd feel with a virus. If he's coughing up mucus from deep in his lungs, he might need antibx to help with a 2ndary bacterial infection. It's a few weeks early for it to be pollen related COPD but I'd keep an eye on it. Viral infections can last longer than you think so it could go on for a couple of weeks but if he deteriorates or isn't getting better, vet to be safe.
 
Thanks for the advice guys!

Going to take his temperature today and give him some more cough medicine and he can have today and tomorrow off to see how things go although the cough mainly seems to happen when exercising so I might give him a quick trot round on the lunge on Saturday to see if it's still happening. If it it I'll get the vet out to check him over - fingers crossed it's nothing to worry about!

Also going to properly soak his hay and feed it from the floor to see if that helps.

He's never been sensitive to dust etc before but I've been reading that some horses can suddenly develop COPD that then has to be managed for the rest of their lives!
 
Quick update - he's had cough mixture for 2 days now and he didn't cough at all tonight. Took temperature and it was normal and gave him a wee ET balance session just in case he's run down.

I've properly soaked his hay and he's getting it fed from the floor.

Will pop him on the lunge on Saturday and see how he is when being exercised and fingers crossed no more coughing although if he does I'll be getting the vet out.
 
We've had a virus which only manifests in coughing. Nothing snot or temperature wise, no sign of being off colour, just this tiresome cough. My pony coughed for two weeks pretty much solid - then stopped abruptly. Vet had been out but couldn't hear anything and since pony was so 'chipper' she was reluctant to prescribe anything. I just turned him out lots and feed haylage anyway.

I was happy with that and pony was very happy with Benylin!
 
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